it's a hard knock life

I've been fairly busy up here in Portland with the family so there's been little time for blogging. It's been a fun week but I'm happy to be heading back home to Oklahoma tomorrow. Home...Oklahoma...those are two words I never thought I'd use in the same sentence. But there it is. Oklahoma is my home and I've finally come to terms with that fact. After many years of complaining about it I actually like living there now. Go figure.

Well, we've started to recover from the ice storm here in Oklahoma. Most everyone has their power back on with the exception of a few. The broken tree branches have all been cut away and are stacked neatly by the curb waiting to be picked up and disposed of. It's a little depressing to drive down the road and see trees fallen over and broken apart. But the recovery effort has been going well and things are looking up. I survived the ice storm and made it through the whole ordeal with only two days of lost power. No trees fell on my car, I was not involved in any traffic accidents and I didn't even slip and fall on the ice.

Yesterday snow fell in OKC. It came down pretty hard and was preceded by a lot of rain. It's pretty cold here so all the rain froze on the ground and made for some pretty icy roads. The meteorologists were warning people of black ice and asking everyone stay inside. I wasn't worried and figured the Nissan could handle a little snow after making it through all the ice last week. Well, I was wrong. I was driving home last night and turning left onto my street. I was doing everything right...both hands on the wheel, driving slow, pumping the brakes. But as I turned, my car started to slide and it wouldn't quite turn enough to make it to the street I was aiming for. Instead I slid head first into a curb. Luckily, the curb was there because on the other side of the curb was a big ditch. It didn't do much to car except scratch up the front a little bit. I tried to put the car in reverse but couldn't move because of the incline. I sat there a few minutes on the verge of tears and called Jason to come help me. As soon as I got off the phone I noticed someone had pulled over. I got out of the car to speak to the gentleman and when I turned around there were about 15 or 20 people there ready to help. They appeared out of nowhere! So I got in my car and they all pushed it back up the incline so I could get straightened out and go home. I have no idea who any of those people were but I'm very thankful they were there.

Now it's time to head up to the Great Northwest to visit the family for christmas. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and safe travels!

It's official...a state of emergency has been declared in all 77 counties in Oklahoma. A winter storm has blown through and ice has made a thick layer on top of everything in sight. Trees, houses, cars, roads, you name it...there's ice on it. I just heard on the news that there are over 200,000 customers without power in the OKC metro area alone. Until just a few hours ago, my household was part of that awful number. I was late for work monday morning for various reasons including no power at my house. But the biggest obstacle for me that morning was that my car had such a thick layer of ice on it that I couldn't get the door open. I wish I had a picture of it to show you but I was too frustrated to think about grabbing the camera. This picture, however, was taken by someone at work that day. The parking lots at work were so icy that the cars just slid together. I'm glad my car wasn't involved in this...

So as much as I love winter let's hope that this storm is almost through and we can all stay warm inside our houses with working electricity.

Okay…it’s December. The shopping malls are crazy. The roads and highways are packed with people trying to get to the shopping malls. The babies are all crying, little kids are running all over the place, store employees are tired and customers are rude. AAHHH! When did going out of the house this time of year get to be such a pain in the butt! Seriously! I’ve done my fair share of Christmas shopping so far this season and I still have more to do. Every time I get in my car or walk into a store its instant frustration. So I think we need to establish a set of rules for everyone to follow and make all our lives easier this time of year. Anybody with me on this?

I was listening to the radio a few days ago and listeners were calling in on this very topic. I only caught a few minutes of the show but the rules I heard people suggest, although funny, weren't such a bad idea. For example…

• The malls and stores are just like roads. Stick to your side of the road! Don’t cut people off or stop in the middle of the aisle and block everyone else. Be aware of those around you!

• Don’t expect the store employees to be at your beck and call if there are a line of customers they are trying to wait on.

• If you’re writing a check use your time in line to start writing it out so you don’t hold up everyone by searching for your checkbook in your purse, then filling it out, then putting the amount in your checkbook register...

• At the post office, make sure your packages are ready to go by the time you get to the counter. You’ll most likely have to wait in line for awhile so use that time to finish addressing your mail. Don’t get to the counter with a pile of boxes and no zip codes on any of them and make the clerk look up every one for you!!! (This is actually happened to me the other day and it took everything inside of me not to say something to that lady).

So if you have any other suggestions on rules for holiday shopping etiquette please let me know. And let’s be courteous out there people! This is supposed to be a happy time of year.

Christmas lights!!! It's my favorite part of the holiday season. Now that Thanksgiving is behind us we can start listening to Christmas music, decorating the Christmas tree and looking at all the pretty lights.

Last night we drove an hour and half down to Chickasha to walk through the Festival of Light. I would have taken more pictures but the screen on my camera broke and I wasn't even sure that this one would come out.

Here are my top 10 favorite things about this time of year...

10. Snow!!! (although it looks like we won't be enjoying that in Oklahoma any time soon)

9. Parties. It's always fun to get together with friends, family and coworkers at this time of year.

8. Paid holidays. I always look forward to a few extra days off work. And the overtime I'll end up working to be able to complete the month's work before the Christmas break is definitely worth the few days off.

7. Fireworks on New Years! I love fireworks almost as much as I love Christmas lights. However, this year I'll probably be ringing in the new year as I wait for my luggage at the airport.

6. Christmas shopping. I don't really enjoy fighting the crowds at the stores but I do love buying presents for those on my list...even the few people that are hard to buy for.

5. Christmas music. I have a strict rule about not listening to Christmas music before Thanksgiving but once that holiday is behind bring on the Christmas music!

4. Christmas movies. Some of my favorites include White Christmas, A Christmas Story and Love Actually.

3. Santa! I have to say that I still believe in Santa or I don't get any presents from him on Christmas morning.

2. Family. This is typically the one time of year that I get to go visit my family since I don't live so close to them anymore.

1. Christmas lights! duh...you already knew I was going to say that.